Have you ever felt that your hard work, no matter how remarkable, went unnoticed by your manager?
Maybe they have a Type-A personality or perfectionist tendencies—setting expectations that feel impossible to meet. They might not have learned how to give praise or feedback for improvement.
It could also be that because you’re one of few women in IT, your efforts are habitually overlooked. Your manager might have that bias or they aren’t skilled at giving credit where it’s due.
I too have poured my heart and soul into managing challenging projects, but too often my efforts were barely acknowledged.
Why does this happen?
Let’s explore that in this episode and also how you—as a woman leader in IT—can shift that experience of being overlooked into an opportunity for empowerment.
Become more aware of your own blind spots so you don’t end up doing what your manager does to you.
Discover Your IT Team’s Full Potential
Soon after my son received his driver’s license, while driving to school one day he was coming up to a red light and someone accidentally ran into the back of his pickup.
Luckily, no one was hurt and the damage to his pickup was minimal.
Over the next several weeks, there were many calls to work out the insurance claim. My son handled most communications with the insurance company.
But one day, he got me involved. I was pleasantly surprised when the claims agent said, “I have to compliment you on your son. He is so polite and mature for only being 15. He’s been amazing to work with on this claim”.
Were we talking about the same kid? I was delighted to learn that things I taught him are getting through! I certainly didn’t see that side of him most of the time.
Or, was that a blind spot I had about my son?
I was still holding an earlier, less mature version of my son in my mind.
Similarly, as a woman leader in IT, you have blind spots about your team members. Everyone does just as your manager may have blind spots about you.
You may not always clearly witness your teams’ work habits, their strengths and their weaknesses.
How can YOU see their FULL potential?
Be a Better IT Manager Than Yours
A few years ago, I managed a very difficult project that required changes to 6 business systems. They all had to be performed sequentially due to data feeds that flowed between the systems.
The project team included 6 sub-teams of software, database and interface developers. Success depended on continuous coordination and effective communication.
I excelled at project management and thrived on the complexity of the project. The team rallied behind the project objectives and gave me their full support. We cheered each other on as each team incorporated the changes. Close relationships formed as we all worked together to achieve a common goal.
All the stars were aligned and angels were present. Every person on the team was highly competent and met their deliverables on schedule. Wooohoooo!
And, it was awesome to hear from members of the project team, “I’ve never worked in an environment where it felt so inclusive and cohesive.”
The project completed on schedule and was under budget. My primary customer was elated and told my manager that in all his years of working with IT, he had never had one of his projects managed so well!
I know you’ve had projects like this too where all the stars aligned.
Fast forward to performance appraisal time…
My manager barely acknowledged any of my team’s successes or my customer’s high praise. It was as if he had completely forgotten all about it.
In the moment, that felt so demeaning. In retrospect, I think my manager had blind spots and simply didn’t have the awareness to see the full potential of the teams or me.
I hear similar stories from so many women in IT.
This lack of credit and positive feedback can influence how you view yourself and you form unrealistic expectations for yourself and your teams. Don’t let that happen!
Put more weight on the positives of your work that you know are true instead of the lack of acknowledgement from others. Integrating your pride of accomplishment helps you grow into a better manager than your manager. ; )
Using my story as an example, I gained confidence acknowledging how:
- I earned respect from all of my customers and a project team of 30 people.
- Many professional relationships were formed and the team felt valued and respected.
- My confidence and resilience were strengthened from managing a complex project.
With more awareness of your own blind spots, you’ll be able to model positive leadership behavior, celebrating the brilliance of your people.
Stay empowered and lead assertively!